World Rally Championship 2010

[Speedster502]

I have literally just realised we don't have a thread for this years WRC season. This shall be fixed!

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This years WRC season takes place across 13 events around the globe. Although I'm a bit late making this thread and four of these events have already taken place. Here's the list of events below for the 2010 season:

Rally Sweden 12 - 14/2/10

Corona Rally Mexico 5 - 7/3/10

Jordan Rally 1 - 3/4/10

Rally of Turkey 16 - 18/4/10

Rally New Zealand 7 - 9/5/10

Vodafone Rally de Portugal 28 - 30/5/10

Rally Bulgaria 9 - 11/7/10

Neste Oil Rally Finland 29 - 31/7/10

ADAC Rally Deutschland 20 - 22/8/10

Rally Japan 10 - 12/9/10

Rallye de France 1 - 3/10/10

RACC Rally de Espana 22 - 24/10/10

Rally of Great Britain 11 - 14/11/10

The winner of the 2010 WRC Driver Championship is Sebastien Loeb.

As of April 18th
Sebastien leads the championship currently with a massive 40 point lead over competitor Petter Solberg. Personally, I'd quite like Solberg to do well this year he's had a couple of 'off' years where cars have let him down or small mistakes. Over the past two rallies he has placed well in the rallies. Hopefully he can keep this up for the rest of the year. Mikko is doing alright too, I wouldn't personally mind if either of them won the championship but I do get the feeling that Sebastien might take the championship again. But perhaps it's too early to call.

Finally here's the manufacture standings.

It's a shame the past couple of years WRC has been essentially a two horse in terms of the manufacture championship. Hopefully when the new rules are bought in we could get a larger variety of teams.

You can catch information on WRC at the following places:
WRC Official Page
WRC's YouTube Channel
WRC's Facebook
WRC's Twitter

For UK viewers you can also catch WRC on Dave (usually at 6:00pm on a Sunday) but there is also coverage on Eurosport. As for other countries...I'm not sure.
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Seeming Rally Turkey is the most recent we might as well discuss that one.

Image taken from www.crash.net/world+rally

So rally Turkey is over, I was amazed at this rally it seemed to be one of the most interesting rallies I've watched in quite some time. Some of the stages were essentially flat out and some of the crests were spectacular, you could tell some drivers were gunning it.

Example (I know it's not WRC but still it's worth sharing):



The stages which had a mixture of gravel and asphalt seemed a real challenge for some of the drivers and made them have to make tough tyre choices.

Yet again Ken Block crashed out early on and re-entered via the Super Rally rules, but as Ken said he is mainly trying to gain experience this year which is fair enough especially considering the level of talent in the drivers he is currently racing. Anyway, I was impressed with the levels of racing in Turkey especially compared to the huge level tactics which were used in Jordan with the road clearing issue.

Anyway hopefully we can discuss about the progression of the WRC 2010 season in this thread and I'll try to keep this thread updated as regularly as possible. 👍

 

[Ardius]

The Ford drivers are not mentally strong enough it seems to take on Loeb, which is massively disappointing. I have to say WRC has become like F1 in 2002-2004 where barely anyone was challenging Schumacher.
Still, its interesting to follow the Junior teams and Solberg, just a shame the championship is so incredibly predictable. I'll happily take a surprise run for the title like last year, but I don't expect it. Just too many mistakes from Hirvonen and Latvala still appears to need time to develop.

 

[Speedster502]

The Ford drivers are not mentally strong enough it seems to take on Loeb, which is massively disappointing. I have to say WRC has become like F1 in 2002-2004 where barely anyone was challenging Schumacher.
Still, its interesting to follow the Junior teams and Solberg, just a shame the championship is so incredibly predictable. I'll happily take a surprise run for the title like last year, but I don't expect it. Just too many mistakes from Hirvonen and Latvala still appears to need time to develop.

Hm yeah, I thought Mikko would have a good chance at giving Loeb a run for his money this year but he hasn't really delivered so far and I don't think Latvala will either. Latvala seems to inconsistant to give the results needed for him to perform well in the championship. Still it would be superb if Solberg can keep on Loeb's tail, and even get a couple of rally wins this year.

Also on a unrelated note, I've now tried numerous times to get the title of the thread to read 'WRC 2010' but it won't do it for some reason and keeps turning it to be 'Wrc' whilst I understand the WRC tag is there I would still like the thread name to have capital letters...

 

[mipuumal]

Hirvonen looked like he had stepped up his game in the 1st round, but instead it seems as though the Citroen drivers behind Loeb have picked up their game massively, especially Ogier.

The top 6 are very close, all rally winning material.

Kimi had a fantastic rally in Turkey, losing less than 1 second per kilometer on quite a few stages. Super talent.

 

[Speedster502]

Kimi had a fantastic rally in Turkey, losing less than 1 second per kilometer on quite a few stages. Super talent.

Yeah, I'm interested to see how well he will do when the WRC arrives at the primarily asphalt rallies. We might see some really strong stage times from him when that happens.

 

[vompatti]

The Ford drivers are not mentally strong enough it seems to take on Loeb, which is massively disappointing. I have to say WRC has become like F1 in 2002-2004 where barely anyone was challenging Schumacher.
Still, its interesting to follow the Junior teams and Solberg, just a shame the championship is so incredibly predictable. I'll happily take a surprise run for the title like last year, but I don't expect it. Just too many mistakes from Hirvonen and Latvala still appears to need time to develop.

Hm yeah, I thought Mikko would have a good chance at giving Loeb a run for his money this year but he hasn't really delivered so far and I don't think Latvala will either. Latvala seems to inconsistant to give the results needed for him to perform well in the championship. Still it would be superb if Solberg can keep on Loeb's tail, and even get a couple of rally wins this year.

I don't think it's a mental problem or problem with their speed. I think it's simply that Citroen is a better car than Ford. That margin doesn't need to be big, but when it is in there and such a great driver as Loeb driving with Citroen, Ford drivers have to push their cars over the limit to keep up and that's what causes those mistakes. (Well, Latvala can make mistakes even without pushing it over the limit ) Difference could be only 0.1-0.2s/km, but that's enough when you are driving against as good drivers as Citroen has. In Mexico Ford actually said that their car weren't on the same level with Citroen's in there, but probably that is the case in other rallies too with smaller difference.

The reason why I think so, is not about Loeb being fast. He is superb fast everywhere. But when Sordo and Ogier (both developing very well and fast drivers too, but still...) start to beat Hirvonen and Latvala hands down on gravel which should be their specialty, it made me wonder.

Thing that makes this situation boring, is that Ford drivers can't challenge Citroen for the championship. And Citroen won't let Sordo/Ogier challenge Loeb. So only one who can even somewhat challenge Loeb is Solberg, but there is still many tarmac rallies to come and I don't think he has resources to challenge Loeb in the end. So it's becoming very boring season alltogether For me the interesting part of this season is to see if they let Sordo or Ogier win some rallies and how will Ogier, Kimi and Ken develop. Let's hope there will be more manufacturers next season.

 

[SuperShouden]

What? Only Citreon and Ford? What happened to Subaru, Mitsubishi, Hyundai, Renault, and Peugeot.

I guess Subaru and Mitsubishi moved on to the American Rally...as did Peugeot. I think with only two manufactures, it's just boring. Maybe if it they were on a race track, but on a time trail time course, it just doesn't work.

Also, you have the TEAM points listed as Manufacturers. The Manufacturers are Ford and Citroen.

 

[ROAD_DOGG33J]

Thing that makes this situation boring, is that Ford drivers can't challenge Citroen for the championship. And Citroen won't let Sordo/Ogier challenge Loeb. So only one who can even somewhat challenge Loeb is Solberg, but there is still many tarmac rallies to come and I don't think he has resources to challenge Loeb in the end.

That about sums it up. Mikko could have had last years championship if their team used a bit more team orders.

I missed the Schumacher era of F1, but I got I started watching the WRC when the Loeb era started.

Also, you have the TEAM points listed as Manufacturers. The Manufacturers are Ford and Citroen.

No, those are the manufacturers' standings.

 

[SuperShouden]

but...they aren't manufacturers....they're teams. I guess, though, when you only have two manufacturers, the points battle isn't that exciting. It was like the GT1 Class in ALMS when all you had was Corvettes. It's not as fun when you're not competing with anyone.

 

[Ardius]

Its getting difficult to keep faith with this series any longer, the future is very questionable - is there anything to entice new manufacturers in? At a time when we are trying to cut costs, is it really clever to change engine formula so dramatically next year?
Put the WRC drivers in the IRC and we don't need the WRC anymore.

 

[Daniel]

I'm goin' to the Hampton Downs SSS of Rally NZ. Gonna be a blast :tup:!!
I could get vids or pic taken, and post 'em up, if people like...

 

[Small_Fryz]

loeb.... what a drive...

1min 19 seconds down to 5 seconds down in one day....

Greatest rally driver ever?

Loeb is to WRC as Rossi is to motogp. The driver can still make a big difference and no question those 2 are just incredible

 

[senamic]

Its getting difficult to keep faith with this series any longer, the future is very questionable - is there anything to entice new manufacturers in? At a time when we are trying to cut costs, is it really clever to change engine formula so dramatically next year?
Put the WRC drivers in the IRC and we don't need the WRC anymore.

I read somewhere (in Motorsport from memory) that within a year or to the WRC rules are being revised, and are basically going to be S2000 cars running Turbo 1.6L engines. IIRC, this would introduce FIAT, Lada et al back into WRC, which would indeed be grand .... But until then, I will follow S2000 and use WRC as a timewaster when nothing else is on.

 

[Speedster502]

Ok so New Zealand is finished. That has to be the closest rally I've watched in a long time. 👍

Some superb driving from, pretty much everyone. Loeb, what a drive I mean seriously 7th to 2nd? In a day? That's crazy even with his mistakes across the event he still managed to get 3rd overall. He really is super talented. I must admit usually I'm not a fan of Loeb, I appreciate his technical ability but I've never really 'liked' him for some reason. This weekend it kind of changed, I actually was amazed by him, heck he even made me laugh in a couple of the interviews. He seemed more laid back this weekend for some reason, or maybe I'm just warming to him a bit. That said, I was impressed with Latvala too he showed me that he could be consistant despite my previous thoughts, infact I don't think he made any major mistakes across the whole weekend.

One thing that I did think of while watching the coverage was I thought they had implemented rules to stop the 'tactics' that were used to alter the road positions due to the events in Jordan. Obviously they haven't...but still it seems that it's still playing a major role in those kind of events. I personally think it's unfair and means other drivers aren't really given a chance to do well but I don't know, it'd be interesting to hear your opinions on this issue.

Anyway, if you haven't watched the coverage yet then don't scroll down as the results will be shown below.


-Spoilers Below-

Jari-Matti Latvala has described his victory on Rally New Zealand as “unbelievable” after he edged out Sebastien Ogier for first place by 2.4 seconds in what equalled the third closest finish to a world championship rally.

The Ford pilot and his co-driver Miikka Anttila started the final Whaanga Coast stage 6.2 seconds behind Ogier. But when Ogier spun and stalled his Citroen C4 three corners from the end of the last test, Latvala was able to secure his first win since Rally d’Italia-Sardegna almost 12 months ago.

The dramatic last stage provided another twist to the final day in New Zealand after Sebastien Loeb had crept into the lead following the opening Te Hutewai stage only to crash into a tree on the very next stage. The delay cost him almost 50 seconds and with it any chance of his fourth win of the campaign after his epic recovery drive from seventh place.

At the final service halt in Auckland, Latvala said: “This is unbelievable. I spoke to [Ford team boss] Malcolm Wilson before the start of the last stage and he just told me to keep going like I had been. I tried not to be too hard at the start in case I made a mistake. At the last split I realised I was 2.7s down so then I did try. But at the end I could not believe it.”

Ogier’s second place might not have been the reward he deserved following an exemplary display on his first Rally New Zealand although he received plenty of plaudits over the course of the weekend after he equalled his best WRC finish thus far.

“We can’t be disappointed when you look at what we have achieved,” said Ogier’s co-driver Julien Ingrassia. “It was a very good rally, a fantastic place and incredible stages. It was a left/right sequence, second or third gear where we tapped a bank and spun. Unfortunately we stalled the engine and lost a lot of time.”

Loeb’s eventual third place keeps the six-time world champion at the top of the drivers’ standings although his lead has been trimmed from 40 to 36 points over new second-place pilot Latvala.

Petter Solberg, who had been second in the points prior to the start of the rally, was in third when he crashed heavily on the final stage, taking out an electricity pylon in the process. Fortunately both Solberg and co-driver Phil Mills were uninjured.

It was a case of what might have been for Ford team leader Mikko Hirvonen, who could only manage fourth overall following a frustrating showing. “It’s a fantastic result for the team and for Jari-Matti,” said Hirvonen. “If it wasn’t for me doing the wrong set-up on Friday and my mistake yesterday the result could have been different.”

Behind fifth-placed Dani Sordo, Matthew Wilson completed the top six in his Focus with Stobart M-Sport team-mate Henning Solberg seventh. Argentine Federico Villagra was the last of the World Rally Car finishers in ninth overall.

Source

So after Latvala's win here's what the standings currently look like. The first post will be updated in a couple of days time so then people have definitely seen the event.

Drivers Standings:

Manufacture Standings

Anyway next rally is Portugal in a couple of weeks time.


EDIT: Oh and Daniel please feel free to share your photos and videos! I'd love to see them and I'm sure the others would too

 

[Daniel]

Oh and Daniel please feel free to share your photos and videos! I'd love to see them and I'm sure the others would too

Thanks, I just gotta upload them all. And I'm not too good with the whole rally in general. Just took random photos, including the local NZ rally after the SSS.

 

[hellnback]

Best rally roads in the world... and they don't even go to the best stage anymore... the Motu. Regulations say the stage is now too long...

 

[maniak300]

Loeb is like Schumacher in F1 or Rossi in MotoGP. Amazing guy

 

[ROAD_DOGG33J]

One thing that I did think of while watching the coverage was I thought they had implemented rules to stop the 'tactics' that were used to alter the road positions due to the events in Jordan. Obviously they haven't...but still it seems that it's still playing a major role in those kind of events.

I hate tactics, but I don't see any good solutions. They could hire some drivers to sweep beforehand, so the impact on the first drivers is a bit less.

 

[vompatti]

I hate tactics, but I don't see any good solutions. They could hire some drivers to sweep beforehand, so the impact on the first drivers is a bit less.

There is a very simple solution that all of the drivers have signed and sent to FIA. If I remember it correctly, it was so that for the first day drivers can decide their starting position in the order of current championship table. After every day, driver who is first get to decide that on what position he starts for the next day, then driver on second position, and so on. This arrangement would take count 15 top drivers. It's simply and would work, but maybe FIA don't want to let "drivers decide" the rules and will (again) come up with some stupid system.

 

[Speedster502]

WRC: Vodafone Rally de Portugal

Sebastien Ogier has claimed his first world championship victory by narrowly defeating Sebastien Loeb on Vodafone Rally de Portugal.

The Citroen Junior Team driver started the third and final day with a lead of 21.1 seconds and showed a level of maturity that belied his 26 years to hold firm as Loeb tried in vain to get ahead of his countryman.

After completing the final sun-baked gravel stage with a lead of 7.7s over Loeb, Ogier knew he would ensure first place by safely negotiating the rally-closing superspecial through the Estadio Algarve near Faro. Roared on by thousands of spectators, Ogier did exactly that and even set a time faster than Loeb, just for good measure, to win by 7.9s.

“It’s a fantastic feeling and I am very, very happy,” said Ogier. “It has not been easy with Sebastien behind me, pushing me all the time, but we also pushed hard for all of the rally and made no mistakes.”

Ogier’s co-driver, Julien Ingrassia, added: “It’s a special feeling. I have worked so hard preparing to get to this level and to achieve this win is a big moment for me.”

Loeb was fastest on all four of Sunday’s gravel stages but ultimately couldn’t deny Ogier his day in the limelight. “I tried all the rally to beat him but he was just too fast,” said Loeb. “On the second pass through the stages he was untouchable. I have a new rival now.”

Dani Sordo completed a Citroen podium lockout after profiteering from the steering glitch that slowed Petter Solberg on the final morning and demoted the Norwegian to fourth overall heading into the super special. “I had to push really hard to get in front of him,” said the Spaniard.

Solberg looked set to take fourth only to clout a water-filled barrier in the superspecial and tip his privately-run Citroen C4 onto two wheels. The delay allowed Mikko Hirvonen, driving a works Ford Focus, to snatch fourth place by 3.7s.

Matthew Wilson, who was up against Solberg in the superspecial, overcame brake and steering woes to complete the top six for the Stobart M-Sport team, which lost team-mate Henning Solberg’s similar Focus to an overheating engine on Sunday’s second stage.

Mads Ostberg brought his Subaru Impreza home in seventh overall despite fearing he might not make the finish when a number of engine warning lights flashed up on his car’s dashboard after stage 15.

Federico Villagra survived striking a bank on the penultimate gravel stage, which ripped the front bumper from his Munchi’s Ford Focus, to claim eighth spot, 19.7s clear of Abu Dhabi’s Khalid Al Qassimi. The Argentine was fastest through the 2.03-kilometre superspecial.

Ex-Formula One world champion Kimi Raikkonen was slowed by a handling imbalance on his Citroen Junior Team-run C4 on the opening loop of stages and then a tyre deflation, caused by striking a rock, on stage 16. He finished 10th to claim the final drivers’ championship point.

Interesting rally, not as action packed as the previous though. This rally was completely dominated by Citreon, Ford showed no real threats here, even Solberg was producing better times than the works Ford teams, until he hit a barrier on the final super special stage and slipped into 5th. I think I'm starting to be able to predict who is going to win this year, put it this way I don't think Ford are going to be able to claw it back. Below is the results of the rally.

1. Sébastien Ogier Citroen Junior Team C4 WRC 3hours 51mins 16.1secs
2. Sébastien Loeb Citroen Total WRT C4 WRC +00mins 07.9secs
3. Dani Sordo Citroen Total WRT C4 WRC +01min 17.6secs
4. Mikko Hirvonen BP Ford Abu Dhabi Focus RS WRC +01min 32.0secs
5. Petter Solberg PSWRT Citroen C4 WRC +01mins 35.7secs
6. Matthew Wilson Stobart VK Ford Focus WRC +07mins 10.1secs
7. Mads Ostberg Adapta Subaru Impreza WRC +07mins 28.3secs
8. Federico Villagra Ford Focus RS WRC 08 +10mins 36.1secs
9. Khalid Al-Qassimi BP Ford Abu Dhabi Focus RS WRC +10mins 55.8secs
10. Kimi Raikkonen Citroen Junior Team C4 WRC +11mins 34.3secs

Anyway, here's the current championship standings.

Next up is Bulgaria, could be quite interesting considering the WRC hasn't been there since 2002.

 

[ROAD_DOGG33J]

Thank god for Ogier. I hope he keeps beating Loeb.

 

[prisonermonkeys]

Next up is Bulgaria, could be quite interesting considering the WRC hasn't been there since 2002.

Um, what? Bulgaria has never been a part of the championship ... and based on the 2011 calendar, it may never be a part of it again.

 

[Speedster502]

Um, what? Bulgaria has never been a part of the championship ... and based on the 2011 calendar, it may never be a part of it again.

Ah sorry about that, I thought they had been there. I read the webpage and presumed it meant WRC had gone to Bulgaria, turns out they didn't. Sorry about that.

 

[homeforsummer]

I'm guessing this thread is so far down the list as everyone is finding WRC as unexciting as I have recently.

Still, there is good news - Juha Kankkunen will be driving a WRC Focus on the upcoming Rally Finland. If he's anything like as spectacular as he was in the old Escort, then it'll be worth watching...

​

 

[Speedster502]

I'm guessing this thread is so far down the list as everyone is finding WRC as unexciting as I have recently.

Still, there is good news - Juha Kankkunen will be driving a WRC Focus on the upcoming Rally Finland. If he's anything like as spectacular as he was in the old Escort, then it'll be worth watching...

Hmm yeah, well personally I have found WRC interesting this year. Not as exciting as previous years (like back when there were more than 2 manufacturers) but there is quite a battle going on at the moment. Just no-one is paying it any attention.

That could be quite interesting, I'm wondering if he'll go flat out like he used too. Anyway, it'll be worth watching. Hopefully Dave, or Eurosport show something about him. 👍

 

[Speedster502]

Sorry for the double post but Phil Mills (Petter Solberg's co-driver) has announced he is standing down.

Petter Solberg is expected to decide early next week who will replace his former co-driver Phil Mills.

Solberg and Mills had worked together for 11 seasons, contesting 152 world championship rallies, taking 13 wins and claiming the coveted world crown in 2003, but parted company last week when Mills made his shock announcement that he would be standing down.

Since then, Solberg has been inundated with interest from would-be replacements eager to navigate the Norwegian’s privately-run Citroen C4 WRC from next month’s Rally Bulgaria onwards.

“I have to decide soon but it’s really not easy,” said the 35-year-old Solberg. “I would say I have around 20 people contacting me - all of them with good CVs. I’m surprised at the quality of co-drivers out there who want to join the team, there’s a lot of passion for the sport out there.”

Solberg revealed he had been in contact with Nasser Al-Attiyah’s co-driver, the 37-year-old Italian Giovanni Bernacchini, who once partnered Gigi Galli. “I had some contact but he has the contract already,” said Solberg. “This is the difficulty. Some of the guys have the contract for the rest of the season. But I will make a decision soon.”

Of Solberg’s 155 starts in the WRC, only three were without Mills by his side. Egil Solstad partnered him on the Swedish Rally in 1998, Solberg’s WRC debut. Cato Menkerud was his navigator on Rally GB later that year, while Fred Gallagher co-drove him on the Safari Rally in 1999.

Menkerud went on to work with Solberg’s older brother Henning but now navigates Norwegian youngster Eyvind Brynildsen in the Super 2000 World Rally Championship.

Meanwhile, Mills has yet to reveal his plans for the future beyond saying he will be spending more time with his family and working on his historic rally car preparation business, Viking Motorsport. “My company is in motorsport and motorsport is my life so, for sure, I’ll always be around in some way but I really can’t say what I’ll be up to [in the future],” he said.

Source http://wrc.com/jsp/index.jsp?lnk=101&id=8096&desc=Solberg+could+reveal+new+co-driver+next+week

I personally think this is a great shame, I really liked Phil Mills had a excellent atitiude to the sport, and was one of the only really successful British people left in WRC (in terms of co-driving anyway). Hopefully Solberg finds some else is on par to Mill before Bulgaria.

 

[Ardius]

I'm guessing this thread is so far down the list as everyone is finding WRC as unexciting as I have recently.

Yup, the championship is not what it was at all. 👎 You can bet which driver and car will win and the rest of the field is so tiny that there is little to watch for me at least.

 

[Stotty]

Always though Mills sounded like a right miserable sod... but given how hyper Petter is that's probably not a bad thing... need to get some balance in the partnership or they'd be flying off the road even more frequently than they do now.

I've actually been watching a lot more of the WRC this year... since the TV coverage has moved to Motors TV from Dave, the quality has improved massively... far less pointless boring service interviews, far more in-car footage. I'd say at least 50% of the air time is given over to in-car now.

 

[Tommi]

That's a real shame, Phil and Petter were the odd couple of WRC, I never really understood how they got on so well with each other, but the pairing worked and they were awesome.👍 I just hope Petter can find someone at least half as good as Phil for the rest of his career...

 

[chepe371]

So Solberg has a new Co-Pilot and idk if its the "new wife" phase or whatever but he already seems to be clocking faster times, in relation to the rest of the board (Currently 3rd @ Stage 10 of Rally Bulgaria.)

MAtter of fact, Solberg\Mills lasted longer that most (North American) marriages, and was more productive too!